MB:How have science and technology better informed us in our understanding of who and what we are?

AA: I am interested in neuroscience which has made some discoveries as to how perception and thought actually take form. These discoveries have told us a lot about consciousness and the body that we did not already know, and it has also reaffirmed some things learned thousands of years ago. I find it interesting to contemplate early civilizations who lived without the kind of MRI technology we have today, sitting in meditation, observing the conditions of the body by turning their awareness inside. We posses innate sensing capabilities that could possibly be lost as technology advances. At the same time we are driven by constant desire to learn and explore, and we crave proof of everything.

The fact that fMRIs can show us what happens in the brain when your exhale is extended twice as long as your inhale (for example) reinforces what those beings long ago discovered purely by observation. Understanding who we are means not just looking at what we are able to know now because of technological advancements, but also seeing where we have come from — establishing a link between past and present and understanding the body through observation, direct experience, and scientific or technological monitoring. Deep breathing, by the way, releases “feel-good” hormones like oxytocin and serotonin and it stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system.

Another exciting advancement — bio-monitoring technologies, common household objects now, which are helping (I think) to bring us back to observing and understand the body in new and exciting ways. We can track our heart rate, steps we take, hours of sleep, etc. all through a bracelet that communicates with an app on our phone. These types of devices that output pure data gathered continuously provide us with endless possible ways of understanding the body and the self if one were to creatively code a new way to interpret said data and play it back visually or audibly. ​

MB: What do you aim to communicate to your audience through your art?

AA: I want to communicate something about how we feel, physically or emotionally, and then how we relate to our own experience of the body. My work gives me a place to ask questions about how I feel and it invites viewers to open themselves up to possibilities of alternative ways of sensing and feeling. I don’t really have a specific message to communicate, but I love creating spaces where our relationship to the self and others in this highly technologically advanced world can be considered. ​

MB: What has been your greatest discovery through creating this type of work?

AA: This is a difficult question because it is assuming that we (artists) make discoveries as scientists make discoveries. I think that may be the biggest difference between science and art. One receives funding to make discoveries and the other receives funding (ideally) to ask questions and create dialogue. I feel like I have contributed to a discourse about the use of technology in the personal and spiritual realms of life. I wish that I could tell you that I have made some great discoveries about complex human emotions like love, but alas I have simply gained the perspective that the more you know the more you don't know. My main goal is to relate to my viewers and think about how we move through life together, simultaneously connected and disconnected.

Above GIF: ​"Imperfect Torus" (2016). Universal bellybutton selfie, digital GIF file. "This is one of many GIFs that I have made from crowd sourced belly buttons that I have been collecting, some from people I know, and some from complete strangers."